Committed liberal Donny Deutsch took to the Morning Joe airwaves on Thursday to warn his colleagues that Donald Trump is “winning”the government shutdown. Though no fan of the strategy, Deutsch grew frustrated at his fellow co-hosts, yelling, “He’s winning here! You have to understand he’s going to open the government. He’s going to declare an emergency. He’s going to say, ‘The Democrats closed it.’ He’s going to put the Democrats into court.”

Speaking directly to the Democrats, Deutsch predicted, “I hope Chuck and Nancy, today, you’re figuring it out because he’s going to win this!” After a perplexed Willie Geist wondered what that meant, the MSNBC panelist explained, “What he’s going to win is he’s going to say, ‘I opened the government. I took control. I put people back to work. I made us safer.’”

Later in the show, Deutsch outlined the possible strategy:

He will absolutely declare an emergency. He’s a reality show producer and he’s producing this. I couldn’t figure out why he went on the air the other night because I knew he wasn’t going to do it then. He’s like now he gets to say — “I went on the air. I asked the people. I went down to the border. I had these meetings.” And it turns it. It’s a judo move. He’s going to say, “I opened the government,” which basically plays to every autocratic instinct he can. He loves a pardon and anything he can do with a pure executive order.

The last few days have seen a bit of a turn in the media spin over the shutdown battle. On Wednesday, MSNBC’s Andrea Mitchell pushed Democrats to compromise, demanding a different strategy from Democrat Tim Kaine.

On CNN’s New Day, Thursday, Alisyn Camerota exclaimed that “Democrats [are] to blame here as well.”

Morning Joe
1/10/19
7:40

DONNY DEUTSCH: I just want to jump in, sir, and I want to open this to the table. We have to recognize something that my head’s going to explode. He’s winning here! You have to understand he’s going to open the government. He’s going to declare an emergency. He’s going to say, “The Democrats closed it.” He’s going to put the Democrats into court and what he’s done is chipped at our democracy but that’s not going to matter. I hope Chuck and Nancy today you’re figuring it out because he’s going to win this! This is absurd! I don’t know what to do.

WILLIE GEIST: What does it mean “To win this”? What he’s going to do do?

DEUTSCH: What he’s going to win is he’s going to say, “I opened the government. I took control. I put people back to work. I made us safer.” Democrats, go. What do you do as a Democrat?

RICHARD TRUMPKA: I’d just say this to you, that there are 800,000 people who are losing every day and there are millions of Americans that are losing because he fomented this situation.

DEUTSCH: No. He’s turning — I stopped — Guys, we have to —

TUMPKA: We could very easily end this shutdown. [Deutsch bows his head annoyance.] We could very easily end this shutdown and that’s what we’re asking everyone to do.

DEUTSCH: He’s going to do it!

8:08

DEUTSCH: He will absolutely declare an emergency. He’s a reality show producer and he’s producing this. I couldn’t figure out why he went on the air the other night because I knew he wasn’t going to do it then. He’s like now he gets to say — “I went on the air. I asked the people. I went down to the border. I had these meetings.” And it turns it. It’s a judo move. He’s going to say, “I opened the government,” which basically plays to every autocratic instinct he can. He loves a pardon and anything he can do with a pure executive order.

And now he says, “I opened it and the Democrats are going to want to sue to close it again. The Democrats are going to take it to the courts so I can’t protect the country and I can’t keep the government open.” Now, the Democrats argument has to become more nuanced. They say, “No, no, no, we are going to court because he does not have the right to take $5 billion without Congress.” That’s a more nuanced argument. It’s a very, very different argument. He will absolutely — It’s unequivocal, there’s no other way out.